New venue: Sanxenxo

- June 26, 2019

Aleria next to superyacht Valoria

Sanxenxo (pronounced Sanshensho) is a holiday resort town on the north shore of the Ria de Pontevedra just east of Portonovo. We decided to stop into Nauta Marina, the closest point to the vineyards and winery of Paco & Lola, which is only about 6 km from Sanxenxo where there is a big marina. It's usually crowded with a big private club and disco in the marina which hops until the wee hours. We've known people who left in the middle of the night to avoid it. But it's early in the season and the club is still closed. The town doesn't really have much to offer except a remarkable old church with an intricately ornate interior and lots of Marys. There are lots of restaurants and shops beneath postmodern apartment buildings lining the waterfront strung with smaller beaches.

Actually, the marina development looked much like other huge marina developments we've seen, like in Cascais, where they planned big and they didn't come. It's surrounded by shops and restaurants, many of which were derelict. The Real Club Nautico de Sanxenxo is HUGE and looks unused with a derelict rooftop parking lot beside it. Great views over the big sandy beach and out to sea.

We tied Aleria up at the main dock near the marina office, had a lovely meal in town with a delicious house Albariño wine, mussels, langoustines and oyster mushrooms fried in a light batter. An entertaining young waiter tried out his English on us to boot. Overall fun.

Little did we know that we were next to the superyacht owned by Amancio Ortega, once the richest man in the world. He is the founder of Inditex group, the world's largest apparel retailer. The fashion group owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe. Aleria looked very small in comparison.

In the morning, we walked to the taxi stand by the church and drove out to the Bodega Paco & Lola with its distinctive polka dot branding. Alex had made contact with their marketing manager, Carolina. She arranged for us to tour the winery with Maria, the new tourism director, visit vineyards with Diego, their viticulture manager, then taste some wines before lunch. We arrived at 10:45 and left at 2:30. It was an amazing time spent in the company of truly lovely people who adore what they do. I'm blogging about that elsewhere.

We came back exhausted. After a light lunch with yet more wine, I set about doing the laundry. They keep the washer and dryer hidden here. It's past the men's room behind two brown metal doors. The strangest setup I've ever seen. The washer said €6.00 but only accepted 4. I selected 42 minutes, but at 42 minutes there was still 19 minutes left. The dryer took only €1 at a time that was supposed to give you 10 minutes. After 30 minutes and €3 everything was still wet, so I gave up and we hung everything inside the boat as we were expecting rain.

Off to dinner we went, hoping to get into the place we wanted to eat last night but once again, they were booked out. But they sent us to a sister restaurant that was excellent. Casa A.Aurora features a different regional house wine every week. We went for it and it was delightful. Xion Albarino from a nearby village. Then pulpo grilled rather than fried with an amazing potato and bacon sauce, followed by seared tuna steak with asparagus and beautifully baked potato slices. Yum again.

Halfway through, a luminous rainbow framed the marina view and I ran out to take pictures. The next I knew, half the restaurant was outside watching this spectacle. Naturally, it was raining and we walked home happy in the rain.

Today, the drizzle continues and we are catching up on email and chores before doing a bit of shopping at the Froiz nearby. We'll then take off and go somewhere to drop anchor. No wind today and after a southerly tomorrow, it goes north for several days. While the continent is experiencing a heatwave over 40C, we'll be enjoying temps in the low 20s. Good reason to stay on the Atlantic coast.